Is Cognitive Development Nature Or Nurture Essay

Influence Of Nature Versus Nurture On Child Development

Nature as well as nurture can affect the child development. There are many factors that determine the development of a child. Many theories that are proposed by psychologist are used to explain the process of child development. Berndt (1992) explained nature as the impact of the genetic inheritance or heredity of a person during development. Based on Kail’s (2010, p. 135) study, “research reveals consistent genetic influence in many psychological areas, including personality, mental ability, psychological disorders, and attitude and interests”, in which these characteristics are dispersed by having most individuals near the middle and a small number at the end of the continuum. Kail (2010) highlighted that the dispersion of the characteristics show polygenic inheritance, which is a patterns shown as a result of the combined activity of different genes. This means that the genotypes are usually associated with two (or sometimes three) well-defined phenotypes. Behavioral genetics is a division of genetics that concerns with inheritance of behavioral and psychological traits and it is complicated. Heredity is never the sole determinant of behavioral development (Kail, 2010). Berndt (1992) explained that the level of genetic influence on intelligence can be evaluated by offering identical twins IQ tests and observe the similarity of their scores. For instance, fraternal twins who have their genes half-shared in average, has lower similarity in IQ scores than that of identical twins. The conclusion made is that differences between individuals in their evaluated IQs are affected by their genetic makeup (Berndt, 1992). There are many ways of nurture that influence child development. The most common one is parenting environment. Different families may utilize different geographic setting to be part of the parenting environment. For example, children who grow up in low-income family will have disadvantages in their life. Poor children have social behavioral problem, low achievement in academic and low cognitive development. These situations continue through adulthood. Sociocultural theory emphasizes that development is reciprocal transaction between the people in a child’s environment and the child. Besides, people and settings influence the child, who in turn influences the people and settings. For example, a child raised with their extended family nearby will grow up with a difference sense of family life than a child whose relatives live a considerable distance away. Divorce family can also influence the children development. This family may face higher conflicts and eventually affect their child development. Divorce mothers less care about their children’s whereabouts, whose they are with, and their action as compared with mothers who are not divorced. This causes the children to have an undesirable behavior when come to adolescence. According to ecological systems theory, the chromosystem level is where something new may...

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Essay on Nature vs Nurture Debate

460 Words2 Pages

Nature vs Nurture Debate

Nature versus Nurture is the issue of the degree to which environment and heredity influence behavior and development. In this issue nature can be defined as, behaviors due to heredity. Which means behaviors are based on the genetic makeup of an individual and is an influence of the individuals' growth and development throughout life. On the other hand nurture are causes of behaviors that are environmental. Which means the influence is from, parents, siblings, family, friends and all other experiences to which the individual is exposed to.

Throughout my childhood, I didn't grow up free of environmental influences nor did I develop without being affected by my inherited genetic makeup. I think…show more content…

In reading stories about identical twins my point of view is easily understood. Various types of psychologist have analyzed the study of identical twins. It shows that individuals with the same genetic make-up can be totally different, when it comes to personality. Nurture promotes the twins to grow up as separate individuals. Its a lot better if a twin has his or her own personality rather than the same exact personality of the other half. I think this great debate weighs heavier on the nurture side. As a child my parents, and sibling overshadowed my genetic make-up. No matter how much I thought my physical traits made me behave. It did not affect me more than the things that I had seen and been exposed to. The more things that I had seen around and experienced made me the person that I am today. If my genetic make-up was totally different, to a certain extent, I am sure that I?d behave the same way that I do presently. There are exceptions to that. For instance if I were six foot five and one hundred and ninety pounds, I?d most likely be in the NBA and be really rich. I think if I was really rich and in the NBA I wouldn?t have the same worries that I have today. Even if before I were in the NBA I would have lots of attention and have a lot more confidence. So to an extent I would change a little if my genetic make-up were different. In a sense, genetic make-up is just a competitor to the environmental factors